


take me with you, feet on the ground

by dotdotmoon



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Cancelled Plans, Christmas Fluff, Dragons, Established Relationship, M/M, Slice of Life, So Married, Traffic Jams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28356321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dotdotmoon/pseuds/dotdotmoon
Summary: Stuck in a traffic jam in an old car is not where they wanted to spend Christmas Eve—but Junmyeon and Minseok make it work.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24
Collections: EXO on Ice Round 1





	take me with you, feet on the ground

**Author's Note:**

> for prompt # EOI66.  
> ty to the mods for this fest!!
> 
> the title is a line from suho’s _o₂_

"We should have taken the subway," Junmyeon says when he catches himself counting the blinking dots of the dashboard clock until another minute has passed, for the fourth time in a row. He doesn't need to look at Minseok to feel his disapproval—he knows it's a bad idea. Public transport is bad enough on an average day, when the cold isn't as biting as tonight, and he isn't keen on having a panic attack in a crowd so dense he wouldn't even collapse to the floor.

A dust bunny hiding between the window and dashboard catches his eye, illuminated by the red tail lights of the car up front. Junmyeon sighs. He'd borrowed Minseok's handheld vacuum this morning and taken an arduous hour to vacuum all the rarely cleaned spots of his car, after tucking all the stray bits and bobs into the armrest and glove box, to ensure Minseok's comfort. He's sure Minseok noticed as soon as they got into the car, and grateful he didn't bring up dust following Junmyeon around like a hungry cat.

Junmyeon shifts in the driver's seat, reaches over the gearshift to rest a hand on Minseok's thigh. The fabric of his slacks is so rough to the touch, Junmyeon wonders how Minseok bears wearing them. Their eyes meet as Minseok's hand finds its way under his, fingers interlacing by habit, no annoyance reflected in the gentleness of his grip.

"Maybe it'll clear in a bit?" Minseok says, although his eyes spell out doubt, although they've been sitting in the hazy syrup of city night lights and snow for a while and Junmyeon turned the engine off long ago.

There's a series of bangs on the window on Minseok's side, violent enough to jolt them out of the moment, before Junmyeon can make up his mind and ask for another kiss. Minseok leans back with a huff, head turning to follow the shadow ducking away to the side, off to haunt more cars.

Junmyeon rubs his thumb over the wheel, digs a nail into the grooves. They'd turned the radio off earlier, the music too sticky sweet for being stuck in traffic like this, in the quiet of Junmyeon's old car. Letting Chanyeol tinker with the heating was not as bad an idea as Junmyeon thought. It's so warm Minseok unzipped his padded coat and slipped his arms out of the sleeves, tied them around his waist—a gift half unwrapped.  
He's reminded of the gift crammed into the glove compartment, prays again that it won't pop open and shower Minseok's boots with an assortment of his car chaos. Junmyeon is still unsure if he should present it at dinner or in the privacy of their apartment, but something struck him as wrong about leaving it behind.

He catches sight of the silver earring he’d gifted Minseok—on the steps of the city office, in place of a wedding ring to keep his busy hands free—and the rush of affection inside of him is urgently hot and wet like tears. It’s only been a few months, and Junmyeon still gets swept up by it, still gets made fun of for it by friends. He can’t help it, he thinks as his gaze finds purchase on Minseok’s silhouette, still can’t help how much he wants to grow, together with Minseok.

Minseok sucking in an audible breath pulls Junmyeon out of his thoughts, and he lets go of Minseok’s hand to fish out his phone and look at the analogue clock, still trying to blink the emotions away. It takes wiping his hand on his jeans until the screen accepts his thumb as dry enough and stops opening random apps.

“Christmas spirit finally got you?” Minseok asks when he sees Junmyeon struggling.

Junmyeon laughs in protest, looks back down at the clock again, the traffic, unmoving still. He thinks— "You could make it in time," he tells Minseok. "The church shouldn't be too far, maybe a ten-minute walk?"

Minseok’s fingers stop tapping against the armrest, and Junmyeon recognises the look on his face: pleasant surprise with a varnish of affection. With some hesitation, Minseok asks, "I'll come find you later then. Is your phone charged?"

Stuck in a traffic jam is not where Junmyeon wanted to be tonight, but he’d rather stay behind than ask Minseok for a sacrifice. He shouldn’t miss out on seeing his family or his niblings’ play, even if they’re merely sheep two and a star. Minseok tries to listen to the jumbled directions he's given, a path along buildings he's unfamiliar with, unlike Junmyeon, but soon his gaze rests on Junmyeon's face instead of trying to untie the knots of his gesturing hands, until Junmyeon wipes the back of his hand over one cheek, confused. "Something wrong?" he asks when his hand returns unblemished.

"Missing something," Minseok says with a smile, and tries to lean over to give him a kiss, but he's moving too abruptly, the seat belt tying him down halfway and punching the air out of him.

Junmyeon swallows a laugh and brushes his lips over Minseok's temple as he sits back in pretend defeat, then reaches back for the battered edge of a city map peeking out of the pocket on the back of the passenger seat.

"This is from 1991," Minseok points out, incredulous, too attentive for his own good, with a smile threatening to spill over into laughter when Junmyeon tries to flatten it over the dashboard. “Did the storks deliver you wrapped up in a city map?”

"The church is still where it’s been built," Junmyeon mutters, turning the map until the streets line up when he finds the building. "Too cold to use your phone," he tells Minseok as he folds in the sides haphazardly, only leaving the small square that'll lead him to the church.

Minseok undoes his seatbelt and bundles back up. Junmyeon feels warm all over when he pulls gloves out of the sleeves of his coat, where Junmyeon had attached them to dark wooden buttons last year. Before he knows it, Minseok pulls his scarf up to his nose and the thick wool cap over his ears and down to his eyebrows.

“What about my kiss?” Junmyeon asks.

Minseok takes the map square from him and flips the lock at the base of the window up to unlock the door. “Let’s exchange gifts later,” and he’s out of the car door quicker than Junmyeon can complain about the cold air he’s letting in.

•

Junmyeon checks the dashboard, then does it again. The gas tank is still half full, and he rests his forehead on the steering wheel. The service must have started by now, but he hasn’t moved on more than 50 metres from the spot where they’d parted. He considers just leaving the car behind and walking to the restaurant once Minseok’s back, then thinks better of it. “Sorry, sorry,” he tells his car and pats the dashboard.

He opens the cover of the armrest and lets it snap back shut with a satisfying click, hopes Minseok will take a picture with the kids, hopes everyone is having a good time. Junmyeon opens the armrest again and pulls out the crumpled paper napkin caught in it, then spots a tube of hand lotion that must have expired a decade ago. Before he knows it, there’s a small pile of things to discard in his lap and he’s found more coins than he carries around in his wallet, too small to free a shopping cart, not quite a full meal for a vending machine either.

The glove box is half empty as well—Minseok would probably call it crammed—when there’s honking so loud he jumps in his seat and loses half of his pile in the footwell. Junmyeon scoops the rest into the passenger seat, but the honking has stopped and all cars have come to a standstill again before he even manages to turn the key in the ignition.

Junmyeon regrets his decision to step outside immediately. The cold wraps around him like it’s trying to chew him whole with icy teeth, and he only lasts for a few sloppy stretches and the five circles he’s sworn to walk around his car. With one hand already on the door handle he spots a slow movement near the front tyre. He does a double take, then crouches to investigate. The two shadows don’t move so he clicks his phone on, shines the light of the screen on them—and is glad he didn’t use his flashlight and end up with a face full of fire.

Back in the car, Junmyeon takes a moment to appreciate the stuffy warmth before he unzips his coat and lets himself think about the baby dragons taking a nap on his tyres. He reaches for one big piece of the city map he’d torn off and thrown onto the backseat, fumbles for the permanent marker he'd sorted out earlier, now somewhere under the pedals. His suspicion proves correct when it lasts for half a character exactly before all he gets out of it are dry lines. Some more rummaging through the glove department provides him with an almost empty roll of duct tape.

Junmyeon checks his phone for a text when he’s taped the makeshift sign to the rear windshield, along with a warning sign. There’s something soothing about sitting in traffic tamed to pedestrian speed, about being contained in a small bubble of his own, away from the annoyance and impatience and noise surrounding him. He remembers to text Minseok his location, tips his head back against the headrest and drifts, slowly.

•

"It's a dragon," Minseok says when he climbs back into the car and pulls the door shut behind him.

"How did you know?" Junmyeon says, feeling barely awake.

“It’s all over the news. Ah, what did you—” Minseok shifts onto one side to brush some of the junk on the passenger side onto the floor.

“I’m on the news?” Junmyeon asks sleepily.

“What _were_ you up to?” Minseok wonders when he removes more debris from his seat, kicks it aside with his boots. “You’re a dragon now?”

Junmyeon stretches his arms, fits one behind Minseok and lets his hand slide below the scarf, presses his thumb into the nape of his neck. Minseok melts into his touch for a moment.

“Here,” Minseok tells him, pats and unbuttons the coat pocket just in Junmyeon’s reach.

Junmyeon leans over the gearshift as if invited to deposit himself in Minseok's pocket only to make Minseok snort and gently push at his shoulder, then reaches into the pocket with a cautious hand. He doesn’t expect the paper wrapper, or the soft, warm bun inside. “Thank you for the food,” he says, and bites into the green bun. Two bites in, he glances over at Minseok. His hands are cupping his hoppang like a small handheld oven.

“Did your hands get cold?” Junmyeon asks between another two bites.

“Forgot to wear my gloves on the way back from the store,” Minseok says. “Did you really not hear about the dragon? They’re quietening a huge area right now so it won’t wake up before they did some prodding.”

Junmyeon squints at the cars around them, thinks he recognises the one to their left from before his nap. “They’re unearthing a dragon?”

Minseok nods and takes a bite out of his bun. “It must be ancient,” he muses, then sits up abruptly. “We need to cancel the reservation.”

“I can’t believe we waited four months for nothing,” Junmyeon complains as he chews on the last of his vegetable hoppang.

“I don’t know,” Minseok says. “I’ll miss out on lobster and tenderloin anytime to see a dragon.”

Of course he would, with his row of dragon studies books arranged in alphabetical order sitting between piles of the novels Junmyeon merely bought for the covers, with the podcasts he listens to when he cleans. He sits up, too. “Oh, let me show you something!”

•

“They’re so tiny,” Minseok says sitting in front of the tyre, so quietly it’s hard to catch, not much more than a puff of air. His adoration might wake them up if it gets any more palpable, Junmyeon thinks.

Junmyeon isn’t sure how the dragons are still sleeping in this commotion, with cars being turned around and slowly moving in the other direction, like the traffic jam is turning into a wave, building to sweep them away. Junmyeon hurries to move both signs to the front windshield.

“Zzz dragons,” Minseok reads the characters made of duct tape out under his breath when he joins his side, an eyebrow raised and his hand finding Junmyeon's.

“See if I ever accept your proposal again,” Junmyeon tells him.

“Too late,” Minseok says, pulling him in for a quick, cold kiss. “And don’t you want your gift?”

When they’re back inside the car, Minseok pulls something out of his coat pocket, and Junmyeon wonders what else he’s fitting in there. “Better not drop it,” he says when Junmyeon reaches for it.

It’s small but heavy, and Junmyeon doesn’t have to unwrap it to guess he got him a bottle of his favourite perfume, just in time. He feels so warm he thinks he could walk all the way home without shivering once. He points to the glove compartment, laughing when half of its contents pour out as Minseok opens it.

“I’ve always wanted to clean this out,” Minseok tells him, and Junmyeon only knows he’s joking because he keeps looking for something in the freshly jumbled mess.

“The blue box,” Junmyeon says helpfully, and he can’t look away when Minseok slips off the ribbon carefully and lifts the lid.

“Junmyeon,” is all he says, and all Junmyeon needs to hear.

He passes Minseok one of the disinfectant wipes from the newly neat stack in the armrest, watches as he cleans his hands and the earring, feels a small blush settle on his cheeks at Minseok's approving gaze before he manages to close the armrest. The tiny half moon glints in the headlights of a car passing by as Minseok removes the back, then looks to Junmyeon for help and waits for him to clean his hands, too. He takes the dangle earring from Minseok, gently sliding the post into the hole below his earring and turning his earlobe to clasp the back on.

“It’s one of a kind,” Junmyeon tells him. “There’s a stud, too, for when you’re getting your next piercing.”

Minseok pulls the sun visor down, looks at the earring in the small mirror, touches a finger to the delicate chain, then the moon hanging from it. “It’s perfect,” he says, in a breathless voice Junmyeon hasn’t heard in a while.

“Wanna go see the big dragon from very far away?” Junmyeon asks.

“Give me a minute,” Minseok says.

There’s nothing quite like Minseok’s warm eyes on him as he takes his offered hand a few minutes later, and they abandon their car to weave their way through traffic so slow even Minseok forgets to look left and right, onto a sidewalk still covered in white. Junmyeon pulls Minseok's gloved hand into the safety his coat pocket as they walk into the brightened night, the snow crunching under their boots, unmelting like their love.

**Author's Note:**

> hope the car stuff is okay, i can’t drive and it's been a while since i last saw the inside of a car ;;;
> 
> i also hope this fic was okay!! please let me know how you liked it?


End file.
